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Trump Told Cohen to Lie to Congress on Russia Ties

President Trump Directed His Attorney Michael Cohen To Lie To Congress About The Moscow Tower Project
Trump received 10 personal updates from Michael Cohen and encouraged a planned meeting with Vladimir Putin.

BuzzFeed News Reporter

Posted on January 17, 2019, at 10:11 p.m. ET

Donald Trump and his longtime attorney Michael Cohen.

President Donald Trump directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter.

Trump also supported a plan, set up by Cohen, to visit Russia during the presidential campaign, in order to personally meet President Vladimir Putin and jump-start the tower negotiations. “Make it happen,” the sources said Trump told Cohen.

And even as Trump told the public he had no business deals with Russia, the sources said Trump and his children Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. received regular, detailed updates about the real estate development from Cohen, whom they put in charge of the project.

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Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying about the deal in testimony and in a two-page statement to the Senate and House intelligence committees. Special counsel Robert Mueller noted that Cohen’s false claim that the project ended in January 2016 was an attempt to “minimize links between the Moscow Project and Individual 1” — widely understood to be Trump — “in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations.”

Now the two sources have told BuzzFeed News that Cohen also told the special counsel that after the election, the president personally instructed him to lie — by claiming that negotiations ended months earlier than they actually did — in order to obscure Trump’s involvement.

Got a tip? You can email tips@buzzfeed.com. To learn how to reach us securely, go to tips.buzzfeed.com.
The special counsel’s office learned about Trump’s directive for Cohen to lie to Congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents. Cohen then acknowledged those instructions during his interviews with that office.

This revelation is not the first evidence to suggest the president may have attempted to obstruct the FBI and special counsel investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

But Cohen's testimony marks a significant new frontier: It is the first known example of Trump explicitly telling a subordinate to lie directly about his own dealings with Russia.

On the campaign trail, Trump vehemently denied having any business interests in Russia. But behind the scenes, he was pushing the Moscow project, which he hoped could bring his company profits in excess of $300 million. The two law enforcement sources said he had at least 10 face-to-face meetings with Cohen about the deal during the campaign.

BuzzFeed News first reported last year that Cohen and an associate, Felix Sater, had continued working on Trump Tower Moscow through June 2016. Sater communicated with Russian bankers, developers, and officials connected to the Kremlin. That revelation was confirmed in Mueller’s filings against Cohen in court last November.

Attorneys close to the administration helped Cohen prepare his testimony and draft his statement to the Senate panel, the sources said. The sources did not say who the attorneys were or whether they were part of the White House counsel’s staff, and did not present evidence that the lawyers knew the statements would be false.

An attorney for Donald F. McGahn II, the former White House counsel who reportedly gave about 30 hours of testimony to the special counsel, told BuzzFeed News: “Don McGahn had no involvement with or knowledge of Michael Cohen’s testimony. Nor was he aware of anyone in the White House Counsel’s Office who did.”

Former White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II in the lobby of Trump Tower in 2016. His attorney told BuzzFeed News that McGahn “had no involvement with or knowledge of Michael Cohen’s testimony. Nor was he aware of anyone in the White House Counsel’s Office who did.”
Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Former White House counsel Donald F. McGahn II in the lobby of Trump Tower in 2016. His attorney told BuzzFeed News that McGahn “had no involvement with or knowledge of Michael Cohen’s testimony. Nor was he aware of anyone in the White House Counsel’s Office who did.”

After Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the matter, Mueller’s team filed a memo in court saying he had offered them “credible” and “useful” information over the course of seven interviews. The special counsel wrote that Cohen had provided details about his contacts with “persons connected to the White House” in 2017 and 2018 and about how he had prepared his statements to Congress.

The White House did not return detailed messages seeking comment, nor did an attorney for Donald Trump Jr. or the Trump Organization.

A spokesperson for the Office of Special Counsel declined to comment.

Cohen also declined comment — but the law enforcement sources familiar with his testimony to the special counsel said he had confirmed that Trump directed him to lie to Congress, and also that he had provided details of his conversations about the project with the president and Ivanka and Donald Jr.

Those three members of the Trump family have distanced themselves from the Moscow project, saying that they had little knowledge of the negotiations. But a picture of their deep involvement is now emerging, as FBI agents and prosecutors pore over witness interviews and internal documents from Cohen and other Trump Organization officials and executives.

Trump was even made aware that Cohen was speaking to Russian government officials about the deal. The lawyer at one point spoke to a Kremlin aide as he sought support for the tower.

Trump also encouraged Cohen to plan a trip to Russia during the campaign, where the candidate could meet face-to-face with Putin.

BuzzFeed News has previously reported that text messages and emails show Sater — a real estate developer, convicted stock swindler, and longtime asset for US government intelligence agencies — worked furiously to arrange a trip for Cohen to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, where he was supposed to meet with top Russian bankers and government officials. Cohen told Sater that to advance the deal, Trump himself would also go to Russia, after the Republican National Convention in July 2016.

Felix Sater, who worked with Michael Cohen to get Trump Tower Moscow built, at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2018.
Melissa Lyttle / Melissa Lyttle for BuzzFeed News
Felix Sater, who worked with Michael Cohen to get Trump Tower Moscow built, at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2018.

The trip to St. Petersburg never took place and the plans to build Trump Tower Moscow never came to fruition. But the negotiations occupy an important place in Mueller’s investigation, as agents try to learn whether it is connected to the Kremlin’s interference campaign and whom Trump associates were in contact with to close the deal.

Got a tip? You can email tips@buzzfeed.com. To learn how to reach us securely, go to tips.buzzfeed.com.
After Cohen pleaded guilty last November, Trump defended his continued involvement in the Moscow project during the election, telling reporters: “There was a good chance that I wouldn’t have won, in which case I would have gotten back into the business, and why should I lose lots of opportunities?”

Federal agents looking into whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election also tried to clarify the roles that Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. played in the Moscow tower negotiations, the sources said.

In his plea deal with Mueller’s team, Cohen acknowledged that the conversations he had about the project with Trump exceeded the three short briefings he testified that he gave the president and that he also held more extensive discussions about it with other members of the Trump family. The sources said Cohen gave Trump’s children “very detailed updates.”

An architectural rendering of the proposed Trump Tower in Moscow.
Provided to BuzzFeed News
An architectural rendering of the proposed Trump Tower in Moscow.

Ivanka Trump was slated to manage a spa at the tower and personally recommended an architect. She also instructed Cohen to speak with a Russian athlete who offered “synergy on a government level” to get the Moscow project off the ground, in another aspect of the deal first revealed by BuzzFeed News that later was affirmed by the special counsel’s sentencing memo. Cohen rebuffed the athlete’s proposal, which angered Ivanka Trump, according to emails reviewed by BuzzFeed News.

A spokesperson for Ivanka Trump's attorney wrote that she was only “minimally involved” in the project. “Ms. Trump did not know about this proposal until after a non-binding letter of intent had been signed, never talked to anyone outside the Organization about the proposal, never visited the prospective project site and, even internally, was only minimally involved,” wrote Peter Mirijanian.

Donald Trump Jr., meanwhile, testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 7, 2017, that he was only “peripherally aware” of the plan to build a tower in Moscow. “Most of my knowledge has been gained since as it relates to hearing about it over the last few weeks.”

The two law enforcement sources disputed this characterization and said that he and Cohen had multiple, detailed conversations on this subject during the campaign.

Cohen will testify publicly before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Feb. 7. ●

ImOrangement gets the green light on Monday. This is probably why Yertle McTurtle is hiding inside his shell. He's been ordered not to do anything.... until after the 20th.

Actually, it will be Tuesday.... Monday is the MLK Holiday... though I don't actually think Dr. King would mind if they worked on that day, if removing the Orange Imbecile was the work they were doing.

You seriously need help and to get out more. You and your pseudo-left horseshit. The Rethuglicons are not going to do shit with the F A T Orange man. Half of the Rethuglicon Senate have been bought and paid for Putin, the rest the corporations they gave tax cuts to. Neither one wants that monster gone.

This fucking ridiculous month long government shutdown temper tantrum by the Orange Imbecile is changing a lot of Republican minds. Not to mention there are still a lot of Reagan worshippers out there who still think of Russia as "the Evil Empire". It's eventually going to be a matter of self-preservation for them to get rid of him. Just as it was with "I'm not a crook" Nixon in 1974.

This fucking ridiculous month long government shutdown temper tantrum by the Orange Imbecile is changing a lot of Republican minds.

No it's not. This is an absolute failure of the conceptions and policies adopted by both corporate-controlled US ruling elite. Neither one of them gives a fuck about government much less democracy. Pelousy and the F A T Orange man and the god damn bourgeois factions have fucked themsevles so far over that no one can find a way out of the current crisis, and that the answer has to come from the intervention of the working class.

Originally Posted by FORD

Not too mention there are still a lot of Reagan worshippers out there who still think of Russia as "the Evil Empire". It's eventually going to be a matter of self-preservation for them to get rid of him. Just as it was with "I'm not a crook" Nixon in 1974.

Again, WRONG. Reagan's legacy these days stands as being no more than bumper sticker propaganda for the GOP; they only still regard him because of his love for fucking over the poor - a Rethuglicon tradition. This whole god damn 80's "throwback" shit really needs to die. Only Joe Jackson said it best about the 80's and the corporate-controlled monsters who have ruined so much for so many:

"They're not talking 'bout Right and Left. They're talking 'bout Right and Wrong. Do you know the difference?"

Two factioning crybabies reigniting about American feudalism of the Hatfields and McCoys while people starve. slave FORD obviously doesn't know any difference. That's why he remains to be a slave.

There's a reason the Turtle is hiding in his shell. I think the Kochs and others of their kind have put the word out that Cheeto is no longer useful to them, and the Republican senators - who need that billionaire donor money for their own 2020 races - will comply, out of their own self preservation. The only reason they tolerate the Orange Imbecile at all, is because it's been a Ayn Rand dystopian fantasy world since he's been in the White House, with all the cabinet chairs filled by corporate scum doing the exact OPPOSITE of the job they were meant to do. But Cheeto's stupidity & his Russian ties are too much of a boat anchor for their party. They needed to sweat it out for 2 years, so they could have Pence as a ready made incumbent for 2020, but the requirements of the 22nd Amendment are fulfilled after January 20.

Even Miss Lindsey Graham - who frankly embarrased himself in the display he put on during the Rapey Brett confirmation hearings - was asking questions of Barr which clearly referenced exactly the type of situation documented by Cohen's latest confession. I'm guessing Graham is already to vote for Cheeto's conviction in the Senate when the time comes, and he won't be alone. Hopefully somebody will just convince Cheeto to resign, and spare the whole legal drama, much as was done with Nixon.

Firstly Buzzfeed? Really? Also for the 10th time impeachment is a political procedure. Senate Republicans will not impeach him. You would need 75% and you don't even have 50%.

No shit... even Mueller broke his policy of no public comments to debunk the Buzzfeed bullshit.

The Articles of Impeachment are clearly defined in the Constitution with a very high bar of criteria to get anywhere close to being applied or even seriously considered. Only fools would believe it's even a viable option at this time.

There's a reason the Turtle is hiding in his shell. I think the Kochs and others of their kind have put the word out that Cheeto is no longer useful to them, and the Republican senators - who need that billionaire donor money for their own 2020 races - will comply, out of their own self preservation. The only reason they tolerate the Orange Imbecile at all, is because it's been a Ayn Rand dystopian fantasy world since he's been in the White House, with all the cabinet chairs filled by corporate scum doing the exact OPPOSITE of the job they were meant to do. But Cheeto's stupidity & his Russian ties are too much of a boat anchor for their party. They needed to sweat it out for 2 years, so they could have Pence as a ready made incumbent for 2020, but the requirements of the 22nd Amendment are fulfilled after January 20.

Even Miss Lindsey Graham - who frankly embarrased himself in the display he put on during the Rapey Brett confirmation hearings - was asking questions of Barr which clearly referenced exactly the type of situation documented by Cohen's latest confession. I'm guessing Graham is already to vote for Cheeto's conviction in the Senate when the time comes, and he won't be alone. Hopefully somebody will just convince Cheeto to resign, and spare the whole legal drama, much as was done with Nixon.

No shit... even Mueller broke his policy of no public comments to debunk the Buzzfeed bullshit.

The Articles of Impeachment are clearly defined in the Constitution with a very high bar of criteria to get anywhere close to being applied or even seriously considered. Only fools would believe it's even a viable option at this time.

Mueller has been very good so far about controlling the leaks about what exactly he has on the Orange Imbecile, so I'm not at all surprised that he would be pissed off about Cohen talking and then try to downplay it in the media. No good investigator wants to tip his hand to the suspects very much and give them the opportunity to tamper with the evidence - which Team Cheeto would obviously do, given the opportunity.

As I said, money laundering for a foreign power is a bit more serious than a blow job. I'm also pretty sure that the deliberate destruction of the country that's taken place over the last month has to be violating several laws, though the the Turtle would have to impeach himself for that one.

The case against Clinton was pathetically weak, and the blow job wasn't even what the stupid investigation was supposed to be about in the first place. Though in the long run, it probably helped Hillary launch her own political career, which makes it arguably worse than Cheeto having tweeting material. Which ironically he wouldn't have if not for Hillary's extended political career, because nobody would give a shit about tweets from an unemployed "reality" TV star.

Yeah, we saw that "high bar of criteria" applied to a blow job in 1998 I would say that money laundering for the Russians is a bit more serious than that.

Not as serious as:
Mama Cass choking to death on a pork sandwich.
Paul is dead.
Stormy has a tape.
Gene's tongue is an extension from a cow.
You never seen JonBenet Ramsey and Katie Perry in the same room.
Mr. Green Jeans is Frank Zappa's dad.
Marilyn Manson was on the Wonder Years.
Kennedy drove a Lincoln town car. Lincoln drove the Kennedy Expressway.
Richard Gere.

As I said, money laundering for a foreign power is a bit more serious than a blow job. I'm also pretty sure that the deliberate destruction of the country that's taken place over the last month has to be violating several laws, though the the Turtle would have to impeach himself for that one.

The case against Clinton was pathetically weak, and the blow job wasn't even what the stupid investigation was supposed to be about in the first place. Though in the long run, it probably helped Hillary launch her own political career, which makes it arguably worse than Cheeto having tweeting material. Which ironically he wouldn't have if not for Hillary's extended political career, because nobody would give a shit about tweets from an unemployed "reality" TV star.

Realpolitik (from German: real; "realistic", "practical", or "actual"; and Politik; "politics", German pronunciation: [ʁeˈaːlpoliˌtiːk]) is politics or diplomacy based primarily on considerations of given circumstances and factors, rather than explicit ideological notions or moral and ethical premises. In this respect, it shares aspects of its philosophical approach with those of realism and pragmatism. It is often simply referred to as "pragmatism" in politics, e.g. "pursuing pragmatic policies". The term Realpolitik is sometimes used pejoratively to imply politics that are perceived as coercive, amoral, or Machiavellian.[1]

Cass Elliot's real name was Ellen Naiomi Cohen. She probably never ate a ham sandwich in her life, let alone choked on one. She died of heart failure, probably a result of substance abuse & yo-yo dieting practices.

MOSCOW (AP) — A Belarusian model and self-styled sex instructor who last year claimed to have evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election said Saturday that she apologizes to a Russian tycoon for the claim and won't say more about the matter.

Anastasia Vashukevich made the statement in a Moscow court that was considering whether to keep her in jail as she faces charges of inducement to prostitution. The court extended her detention for three more days.

Vashukevich's statement appears to head off any chance of her speaking to U.S. investigators looking into possible collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump's campaign.

BTW... she's not related to Michael Cohen, at least not that I know of.

We've covered this. Cohen is trying to cover and he'll get burned by the same assholes that love him now.

Cass was screwing anyone and sang nice. The same can be said for Barbra Streisand, Joplin, Madonna, Andrea True, Amy Winehouse, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, etc. Fortunately time has a way of clearing memories of tour bus gang fucks. Then they all become respectable like Stormy Daniels...

Yeah, we saw that "high bar of criteria" applied to a blow job in 1998 I would say that money laundering for the Russians is a bit more serious than that.

The facts in this are clear... Clinton was impeached... meaning found guilty by the US House of Representatives for lying under oath and obstructing justice. The House voted him guilty on grounds of perjury to a grand jury (by a 228–206 vote) and obstruction of justice (by a 221–212 vote). But the Senate could not reach the 2/3rd's majority vote to remove Clinton from office. It's in the record and history books...

The facts in this are clear... Clinton was impeached... meaning found guilty by the US House of Representatives for lying under oath and obstructing justice. The House voted him guilty on grounds of perjury to a grand jury (by a 228–206 vote) and obstruction of justice (by a 221–212 vote). But the Senate could not reach the 2/3rd's majority vote to remove Clinton from office. It's in the record and history books...

That's not the way I would describe it.

Clinton was impeached which is only a legal statement of charges, parallel to an indictment in criminal law. A president who is impeached faces a second vote which determines conviction, or failure to convict, on the charges embodied by the impeachment. Clinton (or Trump) isn't guilty until the Senate votes for it. Impeachment has no actual consequences until you lose the second vote so it's not really like being found guilty.

I see your point Sesh... you may have an advantage of living in a country historically steeped in parliamentary nuances of dealing with it's leader's mishaps with the laws...

In simple terms, I would liken Clinton's impeachment as found guilty of the crimes but sentenced to probation instead of jail time. It is somewhat amazing that Bill and also Hillary have avoided criminal charges since leaving the protections of holding an elected/appointed office.

Remember the words of the slave everybody: the F A T Orange man will be impeached and it will be tomorrow and PRESTO! new government on the 23rd January 2019.

Just like that.

No, that's not what I said at all. It's a process, and obviously will take more than one day. Tomorrow is significant, because it's the first "business" day after the halfway point in Cheeto's term, which means he can leave office and Race Bannon Pence can finish his term & still run for two terms on his own. The billionaire shitbags want to milk this bullshit into a 12 year presidency.

The only way it would be over in one day is if Cheeto pulled a Nixon and announced his resignation. Which isn't really out of the question... the theory that Cenk Uygur mentioned in the video above, with Cheeto resigning to keep his kids out of prison actually makes a lot of sense, especially since we know the Orange Imbecile never really wanted to be President in the first place. Because of his malignant narcissism though, I doubt he's going resign tomorrow. There would have to be some internal pressure from within the right wing ranks first, as it was with Nixon.

I see your point Sesh... you may have an advantage of living in a country historically steeped in parliamentary nuances of dealing with it's leader's mishaps with the laws...

In simple terms, I would liken Clinton's impeachment as found guilty of the crimes but sentenced to probation instead of jail time. It is somewhat amazing that Bill and also Hillary have avoided criminal charges since leaving the protections of holding an elected/appointed office.

Bill did get disbarred for lying under oath. He could not practice law and the Clintons had substantial legal expenses leaving office. So Hillary goes into politics and sells her influence and they start a foundation. Made more money doing that than Bill or Hill would have practicing law. As far as jail time nobody goes to jail anymore. How many crooks do we have in Washington who should be in federal prison? Probably a lot.

What exactly should they be charged with? Where does the presumption come from? Ninety-nine percent of the crap they're supposedly guilty of is conspiracy monger shit...

I view it as a simple equal application of the laws without any consideration for the offices they held. There's a lot of people who've served time in federal prison for similar and far less severe crimes.

In Bill's case, the perjury and obstruction charges in his impeachment alone, are enough to have been criminally charged.

In Hillary's case, the violations of mishandling classified documents in unsecured equipment and transmission/storage of classified materials outside of secured government services. The laws and criminal statutes for this are very clear if convicted.

None of this shit matters nor does slave FORD's masturbatory fantasy of the F A T Orange man being impeached. America is about to go to war AGAIN as Bolton, who won't get his bloodlust on Iran (not just yet) wants so desperately a regime change in Venezuela. Most likely he won't have much C.I.A. help in pushing the country closer to civil war or an outright US invasion. This will secure the F A T Orange man for another 4 years

"I've been blown by a F A T Orange."

Juan Guaidó who leads the uber right-wing Voluntad Popular party (and current pressie of the National Assembly) is the next America puppet-placed Saddam as he proclaimed himself the country’s “interim president” The F A T Orange man of course, immediately sucked his dick.

So while slave FORD make post after stupid post of the god damn "Russuure thing" Maduro, you know the other guy, declared that his government was confronting “an advancing coup d’état promoted and financed by MAGA INC. "We just want their oil" claims war monger Bolton. What's going to stop MAGA INC? The Bernie brats are cowards. Rachel Maddow? She gets over $30,000 a night to spew to anti-Putin propaganda for ratings. Look for Iraq 2 Electric Boogaloo coming early spring.